


To bring you back

by WillowingWisps



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: All the other campers have minor roles, Angst, Slice of Life, but only a little bit of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2020-12-16 03:20:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21029402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowingWisps/pseuds/WillowingWisps
Summary: Follows Harrison’s journey as he tries to get his brother back.





	1. Chapter 1

The moment he first laid eyes on an illusionist, everything clicked for Harrison. Harrison had always been unsure of who he was, and what he wanted to do in life, but after seeing the way the man on stage entrances the audience with a variety of different tricks, it gave him the answer to all of his questions. 

Harrison spent the entire summer honing his abilities. Being a naive, sheltered, 4 year old, Harrison never questioned how he was able to summon fire, or how he could make stuff disappear. He just assumed he was special. 

As the hot summer days turned to chilly autumn days, Harrison felt he had gained some control over his powers. Sure, he sometimes set fire to random objects, caused storms and power outages, and he had no idea how to bring the stuff he disappeared back, but it was a start. He had the powers and determination, now all he needed was the props.

“Hey mom?” he asked, on a cold octobers day, “I need some magic stuff.” His mother looked worried for a second, her extremely religious mind assuming the worst. “M-Magic stuff?” she stammered, Harrison nodded.’

“You know the things ill-illus… stage magicians use!” he said, excitedly. Realising her son was not involved in the dark arts, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Well christmas is right around the corner, so put it on your wishlist. I’m sure Santa would be happy to give you a top hat and some props.” she said, and went back to making dinner.

Harrison had never been so excited for Christmas in his life. He eagerly counted down the days, and on Christmas Eve, he prayed and prayed that he would revive a magicians kit.

That Christmas, when he arrived down the stairs, there was only one big present waiting for him. As he ripped the star rapper apart, and the present became more visible, he got more and more excited. 

He almost cried with joy when he saw what the present contained. It was actually two separate objects, wrapped together, but that just made it even better

The first one, was a rectangular box with the words The 101 Illusionist kit written at the front. Harrison opened the box excitedly, and found it contained a variety of different objects, like handkerchiefs, rings, and a flower. 

The second present was a soft, beautiful, black, mini top hat. Harrison threw the top hat on. His mom and dad complimented him on his looks. “You’re a proper little magician now!” His dad said. 

Harrison wasted no time using his new presents. He put on his first magic act right after dinner, and enjoyed every millisecond of it. His parents clapped politely. 

Of course, they weren’t aware of Harrison’s powers. They just thought he was doing it like any other magician would.

And so, Harrison started regularly doing magic acts, to the point it had been incorporated into the family’s routine. 

Harrison’s acts and powers became more and more impressive as the years went by. His parents polite clapping had morphed into shocked expressions and sincere applause. When his younger brother, Henri, was born, he would eventually join in, making excited noises each time Harrison magic. 

Harrison had never been happier in his life, but as a wise man once said, with great power, comes great responsibility.

As he became more powerful, his powers got harder and harder to control and understand. He would often accidentally set fire to random thing, or wake up hovering a meter over his bed, and while his disappearing tricks were impressive, he had never been any good at bringing stuff back. 

But, everything changed that spring. It was a cold, rainy march day. Harrison was 11 going on 12, and Henri had just turned 5. 

“Do I look like a proper illusionist now, Harri?” Henri asked, fiddling with his brothers old vest.

Harrison smiled, and bend down to help Henri with his vest. “You look like a real professional, do you remember the routine?” Henri nodded. “Then we can begin!”

The show went smoothly. Harrison did his usual fire and doves trick, with Henri helping with the props. His parents clapped thrilled.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I will now move on to the last trick, and the greatest trick of all, making my assistant disappear!” Harrison took his red silk cloth, and threw it over Henri.

He started moving his fingers back and forth over the cloth, making the audience anticipate what was coming. “Ta-Da!” He shouted, and pulled back the cloth. 

Harrison radiated happiness when he saw that nothing was under the cloth. His parents clapped, though a bit more hesitantly than they normally did. 

“And now to bring him back!” Harrison said, and focused on the cloth. “Abracadabra!” he shouted Happily, but as the words left his mouth, he could immediately tell something was wrong. Looking down at the cloth, Harrison a horrible realisation.

Henri hadn’t come back.

Harrison tried and tried but nothing happened. His breaths became more short and erratic, and he was on the verge of hyperventilating. 

“Harrison, honey, where is your brother?” His mother asked, her voice shaking.

Harrison looked down, and muttered a weak “I don’t know. 

A lot of things happened all at once, his usually calm and nervous dad was screaming at him to bring him back, and his mom started sobbing. 

Tears welled up in Harrison’s eyes. He couldn’t take the shouting. “I’m sorry…” he whispered, his voice breaking. 

Harrison ran up the stairs, and locked the door to his room. He cried till his pillow was soaking wet, and then some.

As sunbeams shone through the old wooden building, Harrison felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and rage. 

‘I’m a freak, a monster’ he thought ‘it's all my fault.’ 

Harrison didn’t speak with his parents for months. He had tried, tried to apologise, tried it set things right, but his parents wouldn't even acknowledge him. 

As April rolled around, he celebrated his 12 birthday completely and absolutely alone. Harrison had just accepted the fact that his parents would never talk to him again.

So, at the end of May, Harrison was surprised to find a green pamphlet laying on the dinner table. 

“We th-think it m-might help control your abilities.” His mother said shakily, handing him the pamphlet.

His eyes scanned over the pamphlet. “Magic camp?” He asked, intrigued. He had been cooped up since the incident, and he desperately needed to get away.

Besides, magic camp would be fun, and it could help him bring back his brother. 

Harrison waited, and waited, for the first of July to arrive. When he woke up on that fateful day, he was ecstatic to see a yellow bus parked outside.

He practically ran outside, feeling a tinge of sadness when he realised his parents had refused to say goodbye. 

The doors to the bus opened slowly, revealing an old man with a hook. “Step on kid” he said, in a rough tone.

Harrison made his way up the bus stairs, and took a look around. The seats on the bus were run down, and the paint was coming off. 

There were three kids sitting on the bus; a boy with a fishbowl over his head, a chubby red haired boy, and a dark skinned girl, or at least, Harrison thought she was a girl, with elf ears. None of them really looked like the belonged in magic camp. 

Harrison found an empty window seat, away from the kids, and sat down. Harrison hadn’t interacted with people in a while, he was afraid that he would hurt them. 

He stared thoughtfully out the window, watching as the world went by. He yawned, and decided to sleep the rest of the bus ride. 

He woke up to the bus driver slamming on the brakes. “Bus is here” he mumbled, and opened the doors. 

Harrison couldn’t believe he was here. Recovering from the sudden awakening, Harrison took a deep breath and stepped outside. 

The calm smell of nature greeted him as the sunlight hit his face. In front of him, stood a man with a sunny smile. “Good morning campers!” He said,way too chefully “and welcome to camp Campbell!” 

Harrison looked at the camp behind the man. It didn’t look particularly magical. “This is magic camp, right?” he asked, worried he might have taken the wrong bus. 

“No, idiot, this is LARPing camp!” Elf girl said to him. He sighed internally as he realised he had only been there a few minutes, and somebody had already called him an idiot. 

“Actually, it’s both!” The cherry man said, “Camp Campbell has all sorts of activities, come let me show you!” 

As they walked behind the camp building, and Harrison saw the makeshift stage, the cardboard castle, and what stemmed to be an attempt at a science camp, a realisation dawned on him.

This place would never help him bring back his brother.


	2. Chapter 2

The first week of camp had been… interesting, to say the least. 

Even though Harrison had barely gotten the chance to practice his magic, it had still been, well fun was an over exaggeration, but it had been tolerable.

Most of the days had been semi tame, though some had been completely absurd. For example, there was the day he and the others hunted down a new camp mascot, or the day that Nikki and Neil arrived. He still didn’t like the camp though, even on the exciting days. 

If nothing else, Harrison had realised that it was nice talking to people again. He had slowly started coming out of his shell after months of almost total isolation, and was now falling back into his old personality.

Harrison still wasn’t convinced that coming here was a good idea, but he had to admit, the place and people were steadily growing on him. 

One of the people who he had kind of connected with, was his telt roommate, Preston, who was currently laying in the bed next to Harrison, snoring loudly into his pillow. 

Noticing the blindingly bright light shining through the thin, telt fabric, Harrison looked over at his clock, and realised it was 6 in the morning. 

One of the harder things about camp, was that it had completely disrupted Harrison’s internal clock. He was used to getting up at 6, eating breakfast at 7, and going to bed at midnight. Even though he only got 6 hours of sleep, the system worked for Harrison, and he woke up refreshed each morning. 

At camp however, the campers were dragged up and served breakfast at 8, and it was lights out at 9. Harrison had reluctantly accepted the lights out rule, but he had found it hard to adjust to the new wake time. Especially considering he had a lot more energy because he went to bed earlier.

Harrison sighed, and slowly got out of bed and put on his clothes. He could probably practice while he waited for breakfast.

He slowly headed over to the activity field, and headed up on stage, to practice his more dangerous tricks. The great thing about being completely alone, is that Harrison got the chance to use magic without the fear of hurting anyone.

He went back to his normal tricks, as David, Dolph, space kid, and Nikki stepped out of their tents.

“Hey Harrison!” Nikki said, popping up out of nowhere “Are you doing magic?” She asked.

Harrison, getting over the jump scare, nodded “Yeah. I’m practicing for a great new trick.” He said, and started putting some spoons he got form the mess hall on the table. But before he got the chance to art doing magic, Nikki ran up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Let me see!” She says excitedly, a bright smile on her face. Harrison’s happily complied, he hadn’t been able to perform for anyone in months, and Nikki was the perfect audience for the new trick. 

Harrison concentrated hard on bending all the 5 spoons simultaneously, but immediately broke 4 of them instead, only managing to bend 1 successfully. 

“It’s still a work in progress.” He sheepishly told Nikki.. 

“That was so cool Harrison, you have to teach me sometime!” She exclaimed, before heading away from the stage, presumably to catch an animal, or something of that nature.

The rest of the morning was relatively peaceful. Nerris didn’t plague him at breakfast, the food was almost okay, and the skies were clear. Harrison thought it might be another normal camp day. 

That was, of course, until David announced that the campers would have to clean up the mess hall, and all hell broke loose. 

Cries of protest echoed through the mess halls, though they were quickly shut down by Gwen. 

But after Gwen and David left, to do who knows what, it started right back up again, and the revolution began.

So, that’s how Harrison ended up guarding a tied down David and Gwen with his arch nemesis at 5 o'clock in the morning. 

“You can just go in. Gwen and David are no match for a high level sorceress like me!” She said proudly.

By now, Harrison was pretty done with Nerris. He would usually just put up with her, only ever having retailed once. But right now he was cold and tired, and definitely not in the mood for her shenanigans.

“Oh really?” Harrison said, “how is your play magic and your dumb elf ears going to help?” 

“My magic is better than your illusions!” 

“Oh yeah, well-“ 

They bickered and bickered, making petty jabs at each other. “Why can’t they both be great?” David suddenly interrupted optimistically.

Harrison wasn’t convinced at all, and was about to go right back to arguing, until he felt a cold chill. Both him and Nerris shivered slightly. “I think we’ve stood guard long enough.” He eventually said, and headed back inside.

They were only allowed a few moments of peace, before a loud boom was heard, and they realised max and his gang had come to attack. 

All of them chased down the rebellion, but ended up falling into a trap. Now it was just Nikki and Ered left. 

Harrison pulled a deformed hook form his hat, and climbed up just in time to see Nikki and Max fighting under the rising sun . 

“I’ll save you Nikki!” He shouted, and stuck his hand out, “fire!” A beautiful crimson flame shoot out of his hand. Harrison’s eyes widened as he realised how big and long the flame was, and how little control he had of it. 

The flame struck David, still tied to a pole. David started screaming to be put out.

“Oopsie…” Harrison said, averting his eyes from the scene he caused. Did all his magic on people have to end in disaster? 

“You suck Harrison!” Nerris shouted from down deep in the trap. Harrison knew she was right, if he was any good at magic David wouldn’t be set on fire, Nikki wouldn’t have to fight Max, and Henri wouldn’t have disappeared. The past week he had been so preoccupied with different stuff, that he had forgotten the core reason he came here; to get better control over his magic. 

Luckily, David was put out. It was pretty inhumane, but that wasn’t the point. Sadly, the arrival of Campbell meant the end of the revolution. The kids, Gwen and David all cleaned the floor. Most of the kids were practically falling asleep, having stayed up almost 24 hours. 

They only cleaned for a little bit before they got the chance to collapse in their beds. 

Even though the day had been exhausting Harrison couldn’t sleep. He still felt guilty for setting David on fire, and felt stupid for neglecting to focus not of his attention of magic. 

Harrison pulled out a deck of cards and started fiddling with it. He felt as the cards flowed gently through his hands, soothing him and putting his thoughts to rest. 

“You’re still awake too?” 

Harrison dropped the cards at his tent mate loud, theatrical voice. “Yes, after what happened today, I don’t think I can sleep.” Harrison said, the statement wasn’t a complete lie. 

“What happened today was DRAMATiC, and will make EXCELLENT MATERIAL for my NEW play!” Preston said loudly, “and you HAVE to show me how your SHOOT FIRE out of your hand!” 

Harrison smiled, “Using magic of course,Ta-Da.” He said, before making a tiny flame a the tip of his fingers. Though the flame quickly began to spread, and Harrison had to kill it. “I don’t really have control over any of my magic though, I’m not even sure I’m cut out to be an illusionist ” he mumbled, before laying down in bed again. 

“NONSENSE” Preston said enthusiastically, “Just like actors, NO magician STARTS out PERFECT! But considering your ONLY 12-“ 

A sharp snarky voice from the tent next over cut in. “Oh my god Preston it’s 8 in the morning just shut the fuck up!” Max shouted, his voice muffled by the tent material. 

“And I am TRYING to have a CONVERSATION with a FRIEND!” Preston shouted back angrily. Harrison suddenly felt a smile spread across his face. Preston called him a friend. 

This was the first friend he would ever have. 

“Anywho” Preston said, lowering his voice slightly, “your magic is impressive, and if you practice more, I’m sure you’ll get better.” He said before turning away from Harrison, and sinking deeply into sleep.

Harrison looked over at Preston, and couldn’t help but smile. Harrison only really interacted with the kids in his church, and they all found his magic weird. He still found it hard to believe that he had somehow obtained a friend. And the words of encouragement about his magic had helped and put his mind to ease. 

Laying down on the soft pillow, Harrison closed his eyes. Maybe going to magic camp and more wouldn’t be too bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the performer trips dynamic, so you’ll definitely be seeing lots of them!
> 
> Some chapters will be retelling of episodes through Harrison POV, while others will be completely original. 
> 
> I hope you didn’t mind the wait, I was busy with school. I’ll update sometime within the next to weeks (:
> 
> \- Willow


	3. Chapter 3

Preston clapped as Harrison finished up the show, “I thought it was pretty good! The spoon trick could use some work, but expect that, it’s ready for the stage!” 

“I still feel it’s missing something especially with how insane the last show was.” Harrison commented. 

The last show hadn’t as much been a show as it had been a full out war between him and Neil. Sure, it wasn’t very magical, but it was certainly entertaining for the others.

Well, entertaining for the others expect for Max. It took three days for his gagging up magic items spell to wear off, and Harrison had the sneaking suspicion he slightly traumatised the boy.

“Maybe you should try adding some fire rings, or levitation!” Preston suggested.

“I barely have any control over my fire, and using magic, on other people…” he stiffened thinking about Henri and Max, “... usually doesn’t turn out well.”

“Oh, I’m sure it would be fine, it’s just a harmless levitation spell, how bad could it be!” 

“You have no idea” Harrison stated.

He could still recall the time he was trying to make his rabbit levitate, but accidentally ended up setting her on fire. He didn’t want that to happen to a human being 

Preston eyes narrowed. “And you do?” He questioned, his voice uncharacteristically suspicious. 

“We-well…” Harrison stammered, unsure if this was the kind of thing he should be sharing with Preston. If he told him, Preston would probably think he was a freak. 

Harrison’s doubts were quickly put to rest though, as Preston went into what Harrison had dubbed ‘inspirational fits.’

“The young magician, haunted by his past mistakes!” Preston gestured and his voice boomed, “I MUST write about this!”

He should have been offended, or surprised, that Preston had just up and left him, but at this point, he had gotten used to the behaviour. 

The best course of action would probably be to find an unbiased second view point. Maybe they could help him find out what’s missing.

Harrison jumps of the stage, and started scouting around. Immediately, he started eliminating candidates. 

Max wouldn’t help him in a million years, and the cheery counselor he was pestering wouldn’t be a good source of constructive criticism.

Dolph seemed like a good option at first, but he was in the middle of doing art. Plus, he kind of creeped Harrison out.

And Neil… well Neil was a magic hating dick.

Harrison continued eliminating campers. Space kid was to childish, Nikki had too short of an attention span, and Nurf, while a good giver of criticism, was super intimidating. Eventually he had narrowed it down to one camper. 

Nerris

He hated her guts, but she was the best candidate. Liked magic, great at criticism, and not busy nor intimidating. Only problem was, she was his nemesis.

Hesitantly approaching the ‘fair lady’s’ castle, Harrison mentally double checked the other candidates, to see if anyone would be even slightly more eligible.

“Nerris?” Harrsion called.

He watched as her signature blue hat, stuck out of the castle. “Oh. There seems to be a gnome outside my castle.” She deadpanned. 

Ignoring the bash to his appearance, Harrison popped his question. “Would you mind helping me with my next magic trick?” 

“Why should I help you?” 

Good question. Harrison thought about it for a few seconds, before spotting the blue, 20 sided dice Nerris was holding in her hand, and getting an idea.

“I’ll play dungeons and dragons with you” he offered. This caught her attention, and she looked like she was really considering the offer.

“How can I help?”

Harrison beamed, and performed the show for Nerris. He had the dove, the rope, and the spoons. 

And, while Nerris would never admit this, she looked like she was actually almost enjoying herself. 

“So what did you think?” Harrison asked, as he finished up his show.

“It was okay, I guess” responded Nerris, whose slight smile had suddenly turned to a small frown. 

“It was a little underwhelming though.” She added. “You should try adding some card tricks. I’ve seen you fiddle with your deck. It might be the only magic trick you don’t suck at.” 

Harrison mentally facepalmed at his own ignorance. How did I forget about card tricks!

“I’ll try that. I guess your idea wasn’t that bad.” He told her, before pulling out his familiar red and white card stock, and brainstorming some ideas. 

Nerris ripped them cards out of his hands so they flew everywhere. “Hey what was that-“

“You can practice your mediocre card tricks later Harrison, we have a campaign to play.” 

So, Harrison was dragged to the cardboard tower. “You can be Thermus, the hill dwarf cleric. We need a healer.” She handed the newly dubbed cleric his character sheet, and Harrison quickly glanced over it.

“You find yourself in a pitch black cave. You can hear small, light, footsteps surrounding you, and In the distance you can see what looks like a campfire.” Nerris started. “What do you do?”

“Um…” Harrison comparing his choices, “we should investigate the fire!” 

“As you approach the fire, you see that there are goblins surrounding it!” The dungeon master informed, busting out a gray goblin figurine. “But they haven’t spotted you yet.”

He watched as Nerris reached out to one of her teddies. “You think we should perform a sneak attack Mr Acorn?” The dungeon master asked the red plushie. 

“Good idea. Roll stealth.”

And so they continued, adventuring and battling until they were called for dinner. Doing dungeons and dragons with Nerris was actually quite fun, but Harrison would die before he would admit that.

They went their separate ways as they entered the mess hall. Harrison got his slob, located Preston, who had finally come out of his creative daze, and sat down.

“Did you write your play?” Harrison asked, trying to chew the slimy ‘food’. 

“YES! And it was GLORIOUS!” Preston responded. “Did you find out what was missing from your act?”

Harrison nodded, “Nerris helped me.” As Harrison saw the expression on Prestons face, he concluded that telling him of all people about Nerris, whas one of the stupidest things he had done.

“Oh really?” He smirked, “why your arch nemesis of all people?” 

Harrison stuttered, before sinking deeper into his seat. “She was the best option! She is still my arch nemesis!” He exclaimed.

“Whatever you say Harrison.” 

As Harrison lay in the bed that night, awake as ever, his eyes caught the paper, pen, and notebook his tent mate used to write plays. 

He sneaked over to the sketchbook, lit a candle he would use on stage with the snap of his finger, and started writing;

To Henri

Hi! I know you can’t read yet, so it’s kind of pointless to write a letter, but you would be starting school soon, so it’s probably time to learn.

Camp had been great. You would love it. It’s like the adventures you have in the forest but everyday. I’ve even made a friend! He’s a bit over dramatic, but great. 

I don’t know where you are, or what happened to you, but i really miss you. I hope your safe, and I promise I’ll bring you back safely

Your Big brother 

Harrison

And with that, he put the letter in his top hat, blew out the candle and went to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished this chapter, and updated the tags. Next chapter will be a lot more angsty. As a huge Dungeons and Dragons fan, you’ll probably see a lot more of Nerris! 
> 
> I’ll update soon (:
> 
> \- Willow


	4. AN

Hi, this is currently under a hiatus.

I hope to continue it, but currently I find no desire or passion to continue writing on it.

Sorry for that. Right now I’m gonna write some one shots for different series, but in the future I might write some Camp Camp one shots, while I try to rekindle my passion for this.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like it! This is the first story I’ve ever written (I don’t usually write fan fiction) 
> 
> I’ll try to update soon. 
> 
> \- Willow


End file.
